Childhood: An interest in human evolution

Chris Stringer

Chris is a leading researcher in the study of human evolution, particularly the ancient human occupation of Britain. He has regularly conducted fieldwork to enhance the collection through new found material, and considers this one of the most exciting aspects of his work. Sometimes, leads can result in very different finds to those originally expected, which you may learn more about in the clip Fieldwork: Bacon Hole cave.

It was a school project on Neanderthals that sparked Chris's life-long interest in human evolution. Though he had imagined a career for himself in medicine, everything changed when a university prospectus fell open on the page for anthropology courses. In first coming to the Museum, he even found himself a topic of study, when his long haircut and fashionable clothes proved him to be a subject of speculation!